The LMA Midwest luncheon on June 18, 2015 examined a typical corporate business case and how the analysis of internal and external factors, such as market demand, competitive pricing, costs of production, cost of delivery, client mix, channel strategy, profit targets and resource allocation, are incorporated into the decision-making process. This topic was uniquely presented as a play, with a cast consisting of Andrea Gordon, director of marketing and client service, Butler Rubin LLP, Paulette Yanow Valentin, chief marketing officer, Smith Amundsen LLC, Robin Iori, director of marketing, Arnstein & Lehr LLP and Timothy B. Corcoran, principal, Corcoran Consulting Group.
The play was set up in three acts, Act I: Yesterday’s Law Firm, Act II: Today’s Corporation, and Act III: Tomorrow’s Law Firm. The three acts demonstrated how law firms traditionally do not quantify new initiatives and instead rely on practice groups or firm rainmakers to make “business” decisions. In the past, law firms have made decisions based on “gut” instinct rather than analyzing actual numbers. The play illustrated the importance of fully embracing strategic pricing, project management, process improvement, competitive intelligence and profitability analysis in order to better strategize and maximize results.
The take-away from this program was that “sound business decisions are based on analytics; we must analyze multiple independent and inter-related factors; performance is best measured over time, and we must compare alternatives, including doing nothing.” It is crucial for a firm to use both strategic pricing and project improvement/project management techniques in order to deliver services profitably. Utilization and leverage can improve by staffing work differently. If a firm improves client satisfaction, it will see higher retention rates and cross-selling, which in turn reduce the risk of losing the client when/if the rainmaker decides to leave.